A Pure Heart An Holy Sinless Life

1 John 3:1-10 See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God’s children – and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God. My dear friends, we are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him like he really is.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure. Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God’s law, because sin is a breaking of the law. You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him. So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.

Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.

Whoever is a child of God does not continue to sin, for God’s very nature is in him; and because God is his father, he cannot continue to sin. Here is the clear difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: anyone who does not do what is right or does not love his brother is not God’s child.

Luke 1:74-75 TEV With a solemn oath to our ancestor Abraham he promised to rescue us from our enemies and allow us to serve him without fear, so that we might be holy and righteous before him all the days of our life.

John 5:14 TEV … “Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

John 8:10b-11 TEV … “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?” “No one, sir,” she answered. “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.”

Romans 3:20 TEV For no one is put right in God’s sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make man know that he has sinned.

Romans 6:6 TEV And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin.

Romans 6:12-13a TEV Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self. Nor must you surrender any part of yourselves to sin to be used for wicked purposes, Instead, give yourselves to God.

Romans 6:14 TEV Sin must not be your master; for you do not live under law but under God’s grace.

Romans 6:17-18 TEV But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received. You were set free from sin and became the slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:22-23 TEV But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. For sin pays its wage-death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:1-2 TEV There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:9 TEV But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to – if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 8:13 TEV For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

Romans 14:23 TEV But if he has doubts about what he eats, God condemns him when he eats it, because his action is not based on faith. And anything that is not based on faith is sin.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 TEV Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.” Come back to your right senses and stop your sinful ways. I declare to your shame that some of you do not know God.

2 Corinthians 7:1 TEV All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in reverence for God.

Galatians 5:16-17 TEV … let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants,

Ephesians 4:23-24 TEV Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

1 Timothy 1:4-5 TEV God’s plan … is known by faith. … arouse the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith.

Hebrews 10:26 TEV For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us.

Hebrews 12:14 TEV Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.

James 4:8 KJV Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

1 Peter 1:14-16 TEV Be obedient to God, … be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy. The scripture says, “Be holy because I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:22 TEV Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for your fellow believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.

2 Peter 3:11b, 14b TEV Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God, … do your best to be pure and faultless in God’s sight and to be at peace with him.

1 John 2:1 TEV I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the father on our behalf-Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

1 John 3:3 TEV Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.

1 John 3:6 TEV So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.

1 John 3:8 TEV Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil has done.

1 John 3:9 TEV Whoever is a child of God does not continue to sin, for God’s very nature is in him; and because God is his Father, he cannot continue to sin.

1 John 4:4 TEV But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.

Some questions to answer: 1.What understanding of ‘sin’ does God want you to have? 2. Does your faith enable you to believe that, with God’s help, you can have ‘a pure heart’? 3. What are the benefits of ‘a pure heart’? The alternative?

4. What understanding of being filled with God’s Spirit does God want you to have? 5. Does your faith enable you to believe that, with God’s help, you can have His Spirit constantly abiding within, with protection and power to discern and overcome the assaults and testing of the Enemy?